AP: No casualties = no war

Ed MorrisseyPosted at 7:45 pm on February 29, 2008

The AP fact-checked
one of the memes that Democrats have used against John McCain, and come to the conclusion that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama understand the term “war”. Both have tried to “make hay” out of McCain’s suggestion that we could stay in Iraq for 100 years as a proposal for an unending war, especially Obama. However, they leave out a little something from their analysis — casualties:

No, John McCain is not proposing a 100-year war in Iraq. ….

THE SPIN:

Obama: “We are bogged down in a war that John McCain now suggests might go on for another 100 years.”

Clinton: “I’ve also been a leader in trying to prevent President Bush from getting us committed to staying in Iraq regardless, for as long as Senator McCain and others have said it might be — 50 to 100 years.”

THE FACTS:

The Democrats leave out a vital caveat.

When McCain was asked about Bush’s theory that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 50 years, the senator said: “Maybe 100. As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it’s fine with me, and I hope it would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaida is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day.”

A troop presence that does not involve Americans being harmed is, by definition, not a war.

No matter how many times John McCain has to explain it to the two Democrats, they can’t figure out that the presence of American troops does not mean a war exists. Otherwise, we would have been at war with Qatar and Kuwait for the last 18 years, as well as with Germany for the last 60.

No shooting — no war. Heck, even the AP can figure out that much — why can’t the Democrats?

Let’s put this into the context of today’s duelingvideos from the Democrats. When the phone rings at 3 am at the White House, do you want it answered by someone who doesn’t know what the term “war” actually means? Or would you prefer to have it answered by someone who actually knows something about both the military and foreign policy?